


The Waiting Game

by little_mad_margaret



Category: Il trovatore - Verdi/Cammarano
Genre: Between Acts, Canon Compliant, F/M, Missing Scene, Possessive Behavior, Sloppy Makeouts, Suicidal Thoughts, War, Young Love, and leonora is crazy in love, i love her shes my daughter, manrico is a little shit, opera - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-23 08:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11985618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_mad_margaret/pseuds/little_mad_margaret
Summary: Leonora would do anything for her love.





	1. Chapter 1

 

‘I want clothes brought for my betrothed,’ Manrico had ordered. Leonora had still been wearing her plain habit from the convent when they arrived at the castle, and she supposed that he didn’t like that because she was his now. Castellor was huge and empty, and the clothes that had been found for her fit poorly. There were no women about, save for the disreputable, straggling ones that seemed to follow in the wake of every army, and so Leonora was very alone.

She longed for Ines to keep her company, just like old times, and briefly wondered if her best friend could be sent for, but she never voiced that impossible hope. Who knew if Ines would even want to speak to her? They were on opposing sides now.

Those hours following their arrival at the castle had been so frantic that Leonora had hardly found time to think, and when she had been left in a huge echoing bedroom with a single guard outside the door just in case, the silence had thundered in her ears and she had not slept until the dawn was already creeping across her sheets. Then Manrico came to her.

They sat down to eat as if they were a married lord and lady. He kissed her hand before seating himself and Leonora had to keep herself from beaming widely because he was so noble and handsome. He watched her with a strange longing in his eyes that made her heart jump and flutter.

‘I hope you rested well,’ he said after some time.

Leonora didn’t have the heart to tell him that she hadn’t. ‘Very well, my love.’

‘I’m glad.’ For a moment, their eyes met and she felt as if they were once again in the garden at Aliaferia, he an unknown troubadour and she a plain lady-in-waiting. He had kissed her and sung to her and told her she was lovely, and spoken a little of himself as well: his brief childhood, moving about from place to place; the wonderful sights he had seen in faraway cities; his poor mad mother who started at things that weren’t there and talked about vengeance and death in her sleep. That sweet time seemed years ago now.

‘I cannot stay long,’ he told her now, glancing at the door. ‘The enemy troops wait outside the castle.’

‘What are we to do?’ asked Leonora. ‘Are our chances very good?’

‘Decent,’ said Manrico, ‘provided we stay alert and don’t do anything foolish. Patience is essential. I don’t want you worrying, you hear me? You will be safe. If you’d like to go anywhere in the castle you can ask Ruiz. I’ve ordered him to accompany you.’

Leonora did not particularly like the idea of being accompanied, but for Manrico she would do anything. She smiled up at him. ‘Thank you, my love.’

His hands clasped and covered hers, warm and hard, and her stomach flipped happily. His betrothed, he had called her. _His_. When all of this was over, they would be married. The sweet thought was almost too much for her—she kept it tucked away in her mind, a hot ray of sunshine in that gloomy castle. Her hope had perished when she had believed him dead, but now it flourished and flared, feeding her soul and putting a gentle flush in her pale cheeks.

Manrico rose. ‘I must go now, my love. I will come to you when I can.’ He kissed her hand once more, setting a cloud of butterflies loose in her stomach. They were standing very close, so close that she could feel his breath gently on her face, tilted up towards his. He cupped her cheek ever so gently, and she gasped.

‘My sweet,’ he whispered, so quietly that she felt rather than heard it. His lips touched hers and she melted into his embrace.

Seconds later he pulled away, holding her face tenderly in his hands. ‘We shall be married as soon as possible,’ he murmured, pressing his forehead to hers. Leonora frowned.

‘But we are at war, are we not?’ she said. Manrico shook his head.

‘We are, but I cannot wait to make you mine.’ Then his hands were at her waist, pulling her flush against him, and she reddened, pressing her cheek shyly against his chest. ‘Tonight, we will have the ceremony. It is not certain what will happen in the morning, but I must be sure of this.’

‘Is…’ tried Leonora, flustered by the press of his hands against her back. ‘Is the danger very great?’

‘It is, my love, but I don’t want you to worry about that.’ He kissed the top of her head, voice muffled by her hair. ‘Only love me, and you will give me courage.’

‘I do love you,’ she whispered, ‘but I am afraid. What if you do not return?’

‘Ruiz knows what to do,’ Manrico told her. ‘Should the castle be taken, you will be able to escape.’

‘And what if I am captured?’ Leonora dared to murmur.

‘God forbid it.’ His voice rumbled through her as he pressed her head close against his chest. ‘I have done everything in my power to ensure you are not.’

‘The Count will want revenge,’ she said. ‘There is no telling what he might do.’

‘He will never have you,’ growled Manrico. ‘You are mine, Leonora. You need never worry about Di Luna.’

‘But he is there. Outside the castle, waiting. Why shouldn’t I worry?’

Manrico stared into her eyes and kissed her, hard and demanding. His mouth slanted hotly against hers and she gasped, allowing him to deepen the kiss. His attentions had her shivering with awakening desire and a little apprehension, her fears of a moment ago completely forgotten. They would be married by nightfall. She flushed hard at the thought, her eyelids fluttering shut.

‘My love,’ she gasped as he began to kiss her neck, roughly grasping her hair and pulling her head to one side for better access. Her senses were on fire. ‘My…my love, we can’t…’

Manrico broke away after a deliciously long moment, breathing hard. ‘I must go,’ he said abruptly. ‘Wait for me. Until tonight.’

‘Be safe, my love,’ breathed Leonora, touching her tender lips with one trembling finger. She watched him sweep out of the room, every inch the commanding figure, and resolved once more that for her lover she would do anything, anything in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently 'opera' isn't a category anymore? angery.jpg  
> Anyway Manrico and Leonora are really just a pair of randy teenagers and that's something I always remember while listening to Il Trovatore.  
> Please leave a comment saying what you thought!


	2. Chapter 2

Manrico was gone. With the news that the gypsy woman—his mother!—was about to be killed, he had left. Gone also were the calm, logical reassurances of that morning. So much for patience! So much for not doing anything foolish! Leonora had fallen to her knees as her only hope for the future was snatched from under her nose, and in a brief flash of despair thought that it would be better to die than to experience such a terrible blow.

There was absolute pandemonium throughout the castle. No one noticed one slight, terrified girl hurrying back to her room, where she stayed in her bed, hugging her knees close to her chest and crying. She had been so close to happiness, so very close.

Leonora must have dozed, curled uncomfortably at the head of the bed in her clothes, for when she came to herself it was pitch dark and someone was pounding on the door.

‘Who’s there?’ she croaked, raising herself up on trembling arms.

The door finally burst open, flooding her room with pale, flickering light. The intruder was Ruiz, breathing heavily and with what must have been blood smeared across his face and shoulder.

‘We must leave _now_ ,’ he said as she slid off the bed and stood up on shaking legs. ‘You cannot take anything with you. They have already broken into the castle.’

‘ _What?’_ cried Leonora. ‘And Manrico?’

‘Captured.’ Ruiz’s face darkened. ‘My deepest condolences. Now we must leave!’

He grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door. In the hallway, Leonora could hear distant shouts and crashes. She looked fearfully over her shoulder, but Ruiz was pulling her along so fast that she could not see anything.

‘Where are we going?’ she cried, almost falling over an uneven tile.

‘There is a secret way out,’ he told her. ‘If we are fortunate, we can leave here unseen.’

‘And then what?’

He did not answer, but only picked up his pace, forcing her to run to keep up.

The bowels of the castle were cold and grim, covered in dust and draped in such pitch-black shadows that Leonora started more than once, thinking someone lurked in a corner waiting for them. She was trembling so violently that she almost fell on her knees in the filth, but forced herself to keep going. The ceiling got lower and lower and the stones wet and slimy, but still they kept going. Finally, Ruiz reached ahead of them into the darkness, where Leonora could see the faint outline of a trapdoor, and fumbled with the ancient, creaky bolt. A few minutes, and they stood outside in the great inky shadow of Castellor.

‘Madam,’ Ruiz said quietly, after a long silence. ‘I am terribly sorry. You know that there is very little hope of Manrico surviving.’

Leonora sat down hard on the cold ground, resting her face on her knees. This couldn’t be real.

‘We must keep moving,’ Ruiz told her gently after a few moments of heavy silence.

‘I’m thirsty,’ she rasped.

Ruiz knelt down. ‘Here,’ he said, and she felt him place a cold metal flask in her hand. She raised it to her lips and coughed at the icy water that streamed down her throat. The flask clicked against her ring as she handed it back to Ruiz.

They began to walk. Leonora did not have the faintest idea where they were or what they would do, but Ruiz seemed a fraction more confident than her.

‘Where…’ she tried, blinking hard in an effort to fight back the waves of fatigue. ‘Where are we going? And what will we do?’

Ruiz looked very grim. ‘We are going,’ he said, ‘to beg mercy from Count di Luna.’

Leonora stopped dead. ‘ _What_?’

‘I was given orders to protect you, and I will obey them. It is unlikely that the Count will spare my life, but he will not hurt a lady. We must pray that the love he once had for you will persuade him to be merciful.’

‘What—we—no!’ Leonora searched his face for some hint that this was all a joke, all a feverish dream. ‘We can’t do that! Surely there’s something—anything—!’

The look on his face said it all. Subdued, Leonora turned away. To face the Count once more, after defying him in such a manner! A terrible fear began to take root in her stomach.

‘You don’t understand,’ she began in a trembling voice. ‘The Count—he is a vengeful man, and we’ve already—Ruiz! Listen!’ Panic was building inside her. ‘Men like him don’t like to be crossed. I’ll be helpless, at his mercy. Please, I can’t do it!’

‘Then what do you propose?’ His voice was harsh and unflinching. ‘I am sorry, but we have nothing. _You_ have nothing. Now won’t you honour Manrico’s memory by saving yourself?’

Leonora’s mouth fell open. Of course. She was being foolish—all of this was for Manrico. And she knew then that there was a way he could be saved. She would never allow Di Luna to touch her, but a little light deception would be all it took to make him give his word.

‘Let’s go, then,’ she said abruptly. ‘You are right, there is no other way.’ Perhaps she would not be able to save herself, but she would save her love, and that was enough. There would be terrible pain, but if it took her death for Manrico to be free, then let it come. She had always known that she would give anything for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor, poor Leonora. she's only like 16.  
> also I feel kind of bad for using the word gypsy. it's period typical, i guess? :/  
> Please leave a comment and tell me what you thought of the story!


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